UN Report Accuses Israel of Aiding Settler Violence, Israel Rejects the Claims

A new and particularly severe UN report says Israeli authorities enabled and even helped settlers carry out sustained violence against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. The report, produced by a UN commission of inquiry that previously said Israel had “committed genocide in Gaza,” examined human rights violations by both Israel and Hamas in the same document. Israel forcefully rejected the findings.

According to the report, attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages and agricultural land have surged since 2023 and rose by 130% in 2025. At least 7 Palestinians were killed and 832 wounded last year because of settler violence, and the violence continued into 2026 in the form of almost daily attacks, according to the findings published.

The Israeli mission in Geneva rejected the report’s findings, accusing the commission of creating a “false moral equivalence” between Hamas operatives and Israeli civilians and of relying on “unsubstantiated claims.” Israel stressed that Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Herzog, have consistently condemned violence against Palestinians.

The report also said Israeli security forces often accompanied settlers and served as a shield for the violence. In many videos published over the past two years, IDF forces can be seen witnessing acts of violence by extremist settlers and doing nothing, and sometimes even taking part in them. The support by the authorities for the settlers’ acts of violence also came in the form of financial backing and a lack of enforcement and punishment. “The increasing involvement of Israeli security forces in settler attacks constitutes a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report said.

The commission of inquiry also described especially shocking cases of violence and sexual abuse against Palestinians. In one case, it was alleged that two 15-year-old Palestinian boys were kidnapped, abused, stripped, and urinated on. In another case, settlers threatened a Palestinian family with rape, stripped the man, and sexually abused him in public. In a third case described, a 12-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother were kidnapped at knifepoint, dragged to an olive grove, and tied to a tree with plastic zip ties. In a fourth case, a Palestinian man was raped with a wooden stick inserted into his anus.

The second half of the report also reviewed human rights violations in Gaza by Hamas, which drew criticism in Israel over the comparison between settler violence and the acts of the terror organization. According to the report, Hamas-linked forces were involved in at least 60 documented cases of executions and severe physical violence in 2024 and 2025.

The atrocities committed by Hamas included beatings with metal rods and breaking bones as punishment for suspected collaboration with Israel. Eleven men were publicly executed in September and October 2025 on suspicion of collaboration. The commission said these acts constitute war crimes and violations of international law.

The commission also found that Hamas used sexual violence to suppress criticism of it or collaboration with Israel. In at least 20 cases, Hamas documented and published the sexual abuse, in order to humiliate the victims and deter the Gaza public.